"Sure," said Blair. He bounded ahead, drink held carefully away from
his body, and hopped up onto the rocks. By the time Jim had tramped
across the sand, Blair had clambered halfway down to the water. Still
well above the waves, he stamped cautiously on one flat rock, then
settled down crosslegged. Jim sighed and tucked his soda under his arm,
wanting one hand free to scramble down the rocky shore.

"Need some help, Jim?" Blair called. Jim just glared.

Jim managed to seat himself next to his partner on the rock, counting
himself lucky that he had neither twisted his ankle nor spilled root
beer down the front of his shirt. He closed his eyes and breathed
deeply, savoring the salty air and ignoring the faint tinge of fish.
He liked the sea; loved it, when there was no change of ending up
afloat in the middle of it.

Blair slurped his Slurpee. Brought back to reality, Jim opened his eyes
and turned to Blair.

"Here we are, man," Blair said in response to his look. "Nice, private
lunch break. So what's on your mind?" He flashed an innocent grin.

Jim draped an arm around Blair's shoulders and pulled the other man
closer until their bodies pressed together from hip to shoulder. Into
Blair's ear he breathed, "You are such a tease, Sandburg."

He felt the faint shiver of goosebumps run up Blair's arms. "Wh-what
makes you say that?" Blair asked, his voice cracking and dropping to a
husky purr on the first word.

Jim pulled the tip of Blair's earlobe into his mouth and worried at it
with his lips, gratefully that Blair was wearing no earrings today to
interfere. "You," he said softly, releasing Blair's earlobe to run the
tip of his tongue around the edge of Blair's ear, "have been dropping
little innuendos into your conversation all week." He brought his other
hand up to tuck Blair's hair more firmly behind his ear, caressing the
smooth-shaven jawline as he lowered his hand again. "You've been
preening at me."

Blair's eyes were closed. "Have I?" he replied distractedly, and gasped
when Jim wrapped his long fingers around Blair's hand, the hand which
had 'accidentally' fallen to cover Jim's knee when they had seated
themselves.

"You have," Jim affirmed, tracing the outline of Blair's shoulder blade
through the thin teeshirt as he trailed his hand from Blair's shoulder
to his waist. He pulled Blair closer still against his side and tugged
gently at Blair's earlobe again. Blair shivered and leaned into him,
tilting his head back in clear invitation. Jim trailed kisses along the
underside of Blair's jaw, then pulled away with an effort. "Why didn't
you just say something?" he asked.

Blair opened his eyes and lowered his head to look at Jim. "Where's the
fun in that?" he said, squeezing the hand he was holding.

"Where?" Jim growled. "Try 'in bed', Sandburg."

Blair smiled, first with his eyes, then with his grin, then with his
whole body as he leaned back on Jim's arm, tipped his face up to the
sky, and laughed with delight until his joy echoed off the rocky shore
and the waves in the bay.

Jim sighed. "You are crazy, Sandburg, you know that, right?" As Blair
nodded, wiping the moisture from the corners of his eyes as he caught
his breath, Jim added, "I love you, idiot."

"I know," Blair said, "I love you too." He leaned forward and kissed
Jim deeply; the warmth of his mouth was a shocking contrast to the cool
breeze off the bay. Jim shivered in reaction and pulled the solid body
of his partner closer for warmth. When Blair finally pulled his mouth
away, Jim stayed still for a few seconds, savoring it, before opening
his eyes. Reflexively, his tongue darted out to lick his lips,
garnering him the faint aftertaste of Blair and cherry Slurpee. Blair
smiled at him. "Our lunches are getting cold," he pointed out.

Jim sighed. "Well then, we'd better eat them," he said, "since we're
sure as hell not stopping for dinner after work." He caressed the
length of Blair's index finger with his own fingertips and licked his
lips again.

Blair chuckled. "Now who's the tease?"

Jim kissed him again, quickly, and only winked as he began eating his
lunch.